


Blackout

by KennaM



Series: Lady Luck and Blackout [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Blood, Drugs, Gen, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 03:40:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7151603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KennaM/pseuds/KennaM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teenage assassin Adrien Agreste, and his mentor Plagg, stop a shipment of chemicals before it reaches drug lord Hawkmoth.</p>
<p>Adrien-centric drabble for my assassins AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blackout

Adrien lay stretched out across his bed at sunset, staring at photos of Ladybug.

They were blurry photos, taken from a distance, and small on his phone’s browser. The Ladyblog collected newspaper reports of Ladybug’s killings and Adrien would swear on his life that he wasn’t subscribed to the site, but when the real Ladybug was absent this was the best he could get.

Occasionally the anonymous Ladyblog author would publish sketches, from the police or even from ‘fans’, but none of them were even close to the real deal.

Adrien was scrolling past an article speculating on gang activity when suddenly someone spoke above him. “What’cha looking at?” the voice asked, and Adrien jerked in shock. The phone fell from his grasp and dropped to the floor, sliding beneath the bed.

“What the hell, Plagg?” he scowled. Plagg hung over the balcony railing, grinning down at his protégé. Adrien sat up on his mattress as Plagg pulled himself up over the railing and dropped to his feet at the end of Adrien’s bed.

“I came in like ten seconds ago,” Plagg said. He straightened his long-sleeve black shirt. “You should have noticed me much sooner. What gives?”

Adrien’s face heated up. “I was distracted,” he muttered.

“Distracted?” Plagg raised his eyebrows expectantly.

It would not at all be above Adrien’s mentor to go snooping through his browser history. The scene flashed through his mind and Adrien frowned. “Some of us have homework, y’know,” he lied, trying to sound serious. “I have a test in history tomorrow, and-”

“Blegh,” Plagg interrupted. He strolled over and dropped into Adrien’s computer chair. “You gave up private tutoring for that?”

Adrien swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Why are you here?” he asked. “There’s nothing scheduled tonight. Were you just bored?”

“Partly,” Plagg confessed. He leaned over, elbows on his knees. “Also, word is Hawkmoth’s moving his old supply route. Changing things up to get us off his scent.”

“That doesn’t sound boring a all,” Adrien said. He suppressed the smile that tugged at his lips at the thought. Adrien didn’t particularly like the feeling the enjoyment that came with his work.

“Not for much longer,” Plagg agreed. He grinned shamelessly. “Now get dressed, we don’t have all night.”

All of Adrien’s work supplies were hidden behind a false wall in his closet, which only he and Plagg knew how to open. His white t-shirt went into the hamper by the door, and Adrien changed into the black dress shirt hanging above his sword display.

His weapon’s harness went on second. It hung over his shoulders, strapped across his chest, and connect to his belt at his waist, giving him easy access to his dagger and shortsword, sheathed and clinging to his back. It also held a row of small knives under each arm, for whatever he might need them for. The more pointy ends the better, he though. He fixed his Black Cat ring on his finger, out of tradition, then slipped on a pair of gloves.

A black cloak zipped up over the ensemble. It was more like a designer poncho, honestly, and Adrien felt ridiculous in it, but it did its job. Plus, it _was_ cold at night.

He grabbed the voice modifier off its shelf and stuffed it hastily into a pocket, then pulled his cat mask off the head form, and shut the false wall behind him. When Adrien stepped back into the bedroom, however, Plagg was nowhere to be seen. It took Adrien a moment to notice the turned up corner of the rug by his couch. He rolled his eyes. “Can’t wait five seconds?” he muttered to himself, and pulled the carpet back to reveal the trapdoor.

Light from the bedroom hit Plagg just as he was pulling on his full-face mask. “Could you be any slower?” he asked. His voice wasn’t muffled enough yet to disguise the frown.

The vertical tunnel underneath Adrien’s bedroom was dark and dusty. A small cloud kicked up as his boots hit the spiraling stone staircase. “What’s the big hurry?” he asked. He pulled he trapdoor cord behind them and the light from above was cut off in an instant. If not for the lenses in their masks, Adrien and Plagg wouldn’t be able to see in the darkness. “What, are we late meeting Tikki and Ladybug?”

Plagg headed downwards, Adrien following closely behind. “We’re not meeting Tikki,” he said. “We don’t need her slow ass for a recon mission.”

“Oh,” Adrien said.

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” Plagg grumbled, “it’s not like we need a babysitter. And we _definitely_ don’t need her permission to drop bodies.” He half-turned up on the staircase to look Adrien in the eye, and jerked a thumb into his own chest. “I can call the shots too, y’know. What d’ya think I’m here for?”

Adrien chuckled. “Right,” he said.

* * *

Paris might be the city of lights, but there was a dark underbelly to it that Adrien knew only too well. He and Plagg prowled the streets unseen for hours before they caught a trail they knew was connected to Hawkmoth.

A man waited outside a building, a laboratory the assassins had never been able to prove provided Hawkmoth with chemicals to create his drug. “That’s just because _I’ve_ never been put in charge of it,” Plagg commented. He and Adrien hung in the shadows across the street, watching the man. He was pacing anxiously under the street lamps, glancing at his watch from time to time. He definitely wasn’t waiting for anything good.

A woman left the building with a briefcase in hand, visibly anxious, and the man perked up. He spoke to her for a moment before the briefcase was passed over, and they both walked away in separate directions. “A tradeoff,” Adrien muttered, amused by the way his voice came out through the modifier.

“This is where it gets interesting,” Plagg said. He nudged Adrien in the arm and the two of them took off after the man, keeping their distance, staying in the shadows.

They finally cornered him, ten minutes later, in a dark alleyway. The neighborhood was too populated for either assassin’s liking, and too close to Adrien’s civilian school for his comfort, but there was no knowing when they’d get their next chance. They had to strike now or risk losing their target completely.

Adrien cut the man off before he could reach the main street. He melted out of the shadows in a single movement, and the stranger jolted back in shock. He turned, instinctively, to run, saw Plagg blocking the only other exit, and much have known he was dead right then.

“What’s in the briefcase?” Adrien asked. He stepped closer, and the man turned back to eye him up and down. Probably seeing how much smaller than him Adrien was. The hints of youth behind his black mask.

“Who are you?” he asked instead.

Adrien could see Plagg cross his arms from the other end of the alley. “That doesn’t sound like the right answer,” his mentor said. Plagg made no move to get closer, though. He’d done his part of the job already; the rest was on Adrien.

He pulled his shortsword out of its sheath, let the end of it hang below the hem of his cloak. “The briefcase,” Adrien said again.

The man drew back in fear, holding the case in front of his chest protectively. “P-papers,” he said, shaking his head at the same time. “From work. It’s nothing.”

The shortsword slashed out in a single, fluid motion. Adrien had aimed for the space above the man’s hands, to give him a good scare, but the blade met flesh and came away with blood. The man dropped the briefcase with a yelp and jumped back, clutching at his bleeding wound. The briefcase landed on the concrete with a heavy _thunk_ , not the sound a bundle of work papers usually made.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” Adrien said. He knelt down, keeping the man in his sights in case he tried to do anything. Plagg still stood in the alleyway but had fallen silent and motionless.

Adrien opened the briefcase one-handed, using the swordshort in the other hand to bust open the locks. Inside, nestled among thick fabric padding, lay three long vials of liquid. Each was labeled with a different chemical combination, which Adrien recognized instantly.

“Not drugs,” Adrian said with a sigh. “Not yet.” He glared up at the man standing before him with blood dripping between his fingers. Louder, so Plagg could hear, Adrian said, “Looks like we found Hawkmoth’s new supply route, alright.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man said. As he spoke, he took a step backwards. The look in his eye told Adrian he was preparing to run. A last ditch effort to save his skin. He’d have to run past Plagg to escape, but Adrian knew his mentor was willing to let him fail the mission.

He wasn’t yet too far away to reach.

Adrien’s shortsword was already out, so it wasn’t much of an effort to bring it up again. He reached out with the blade, too fast for the man to react in time, and sliced an inch out of the man’s calf. He fell back with a scream, grabbing at his leg with his good hand. Adrien shut the briefcase and stood.

“Take them,” the man said, frantic. He stared up at Adrien, pleading. “Please. Just take them.”

“Hawkmoth will always find more anyways,” Adrien said. He set one foot on the edge of the briefcase and kicked it across the cement alleyway. Plagg caught it with his foot. He was still half buried in shadows, but Adrien saw him kneel down to pick up the case, then raise a finger to his neck, and give the signal.

Adrien tensed up. They’d been wandering the streets for hours, and for a while there he’d thought they weren’t going to get this far tonight. Besides, they’d intercepted one shipment of chemicals, and had new information on the supplier. Would one less delivery man really put that much of a dent in Hawkmoth’s business?

“I-I just pick up the packages,” the man stuttered. He inched back as Adrien stepped closer. “They don’t tell me what’s inside, or how to mix anything.”

“But you know what they’re making with this,” Adrien said. The man gulped, and said nothing. “How many packages have you delivered, then?” Adrien asked. The question was more for himself than for the stranger. His school was just half a block away; he had known students who’d somehow gotten their hands on Akuma, had seen what it had done to them. There was a reason Adrien was doing this, and that wasn’t just because it was the family business.

The man didn’t move as Adrien stepped closer and pressed the tip of his shortsword into his skin. His neck opened in one easy motion. Blood drenched the body just before it collapsed in a heap at Adrien’s feet. At the same time, Adrien heard a scream behind him.

Two girls stood at the street just outside the alley, staring at Adrien with wide, shocked eyes. They held onto each other protectively and were too far away for him to see clearly, but he recognized them both instantly. They were his classmates. Alya and Marinette, who sat behind him at school every day, who’d worked on group projects with him and knew nothing about his double life.

Something inside Adrien’s chest twisted hard, and it became difficult to breath. He knew they wouldn’t recognize him in this outfit, with his mask on, but he wanted to run and hide. He couldn’t stand the look of sheer terror in their eyes.

But Adrien stared back at them, stunned, until an impatient sound from Plagg broke him from his reverie. He quickly sheathed the shortsword – he could clean it later, when the coast was clear – and stepped over the still bleeding corpse. As he melted into the shadows, Adrien could feel the eyes of his unsuspecting classmates boring a hole into his back.


End file.
